Make It Better
by Indigo Tantarian
Summary: He was broken but somehow still alive. She found a way to fix him, just a little. (pointless Valentine's Day Chelley fluff)


**Make It Better**

The best feeling she ever got in that terrible place was when he came back from the dead.

That's how it seemed. He had been crushed by Her claw, knocked out, she thought he was gone forever. At first his constant prattle was overwhelming, but she'd gotten used to it. She didn't even realize how much she had come to depend on it, on HIM, until he was gone.

But when he came back to her, he was different. Just a little different. Still himself, but there was a frightened edge to his voice that I sometimes noticed. Sometimes it almost overtook him. Her first thought was GLaDOS. Of course he was afraid. She had almost killed him, and She was awake and in control again now. How could she blame him for being afraid?

Then she realized something as she reached out to him and he withdrew. GLaDOS wasn't the only one he was afraid of.

He was afraid of her as well.

She felt her heart twist, and a lump formed in her throat. He was her friend, her ONLY friend. Here or anywhere in the world. The only one who'd helped her. The only one who'd bothered to try.

She wouldn't have known what to say if she had been able, so she did the only thing she could.

She reached out again, and he flinched, and she flinched at his flinch. But she didn't stop this time, and she ran her fingers along his side. It was scuffed and dented and torn. He twitched and sparked, and she hissed softly but didn't pull away. She kept her eyes on his bright, glowing blue 'eye' that was still a tiny dot, and rubbed closer to the optic. The center parts of the handles and the ring around the blue lens were sensitive, so she slowly worked her way towards them.

"Wh-what are you doing there?" His voice trembled, and he shivered. "I… Is there something on me? Is that why you're… touching me there? Is it – oh, god, it's not conversion gel, is it? That's… that's some nasty stuff. Horrible. I'll… The scientists told me I would DIE if I ever got it on me. …And I know they weren't always the most HONEST bunch, but I heard it's got some nasty side-effects on humans, too! It's not that, is it? Because… if it is… eugh, I don't want to think about it. You'd better stop that, you're already going to have to… chop off your hand or something, don't want to contaminate your whole body. Definitely not. Not you."

She couldn't help smiling a little, and patted him gently. He sparked in surprise and looked up, his optic expanding again. She shook her head and traced lightly around his sensitive rim.

"Oh!" he jumped a little and laughed nervously. "Ah, that's… that part's a bit sensitive. Just a bit, not… nothing awful. Didn't hurt, but I can DEFINITELY feel it. Everything you do, I feel it. Handles too, don't forget."

Slowly, deliberately, her fingers slid across his handles.

"Eee! Ah… yes. That's… that's the spot. Spot on, you might say. Ha! Um. But seriously, though, I'm not… QUITE sure where you're going with this. If you could just… ah… state your intentions. Put them out there. Make them more clear, so to speak, because I'm not… I'm not perfectly sure I'm getting the message here. Um." His shutters angled questioningly. Cautiously.

She smiled a little and smoothed down a bit of metal that had come loose. It was just a small section, and it didn't stay down. He whimpered a little, and she pulled away, but then she reached back to trace all the way around his optic rim.

The lower shutter rose, and the entire sphere gave a little shudder. He laughed nervously, but now there was a fullness under the rattling noise.

"Ah… Oh! That's… Oh. Haha. That kind of… tickles, there. When you – when you did that. All the way around and such. Felt good, actually."

With a growing smile, she repeated the motion, slower this time, letting her other fingers trail up and down across the sensitive surface.

"Oh! Ohhh…" By the time she was halfway around, he was leaning into her. "That… that's REALLY nice. Mmm. I… ha. Um. Nobody's ever… I mean, obviously, when I was being… put through the rigorous lab tests, back when I was first activated – and I passed them all, I might add. With flying colors, as they say. Aced every one. Mmm," he sighed, rubbing back against her hand. She nodded questioningly, and his shutters blinked. "…Oh! Sorry about that, got distracted. It does feel good. As I was saying, when I was being tested, scientists picked me up all the time. Right on the handles." His shutters narrowed conspiratorially, and he leaned forward. "Very rough hands they had, too. Very impolite. Oh sure, it's all work to all of us, and there's a need to keep things… professional. And business-like. Not waste time on… on nice things… like this… But they KNEW how sensitive my handles were, and they COULD have been a bit more gentle!" He gave a little self-righteous nod.

Finishing the circle again, her thumb rubbed at one side, then she moved to the handles. She trailed her fingers lightly up and down them, then clasped them both gently, one in each hand. He smiled up at her.

"You're… you're not like that at all, though! You've got some manners. Know how to treat a person. I mean, okay, your hands are a bit calloused, but that's only natural, can't expect soft skin living in here… Oh. Uh, they're lovely, though. Even if they're a bit rough and scratchy. Probably… probably worse for you than for me, eh?" He laughed uncertainly. "Actually, I… I quite like your hands. Best hands I've ever seen, if I'm honest. By far." He paused. "They're… well they're quite strong. Clever too, very… very nimble. Never clumsy. They just know what to do like BAM!" His handles jerked, and he sparked a little in excitement. "Ahaha… Sorry. Sorry about that. It's… I'm still a bit… well, raw. From… from Her…"

His voice broke at the end, and she put a hand on each side of him, tracing light circles on the sides of his optic rim with her thumbs. He gasped a little then looked up, his blue optic as wide as it would get.

"Okay. Cards on the table. I'm just… You… You're not going to… crush me here, are you…? Or – or pull me apart?" He spoke faster. "Because, I mean, you killed HER. All by yourself. All on your own, and She's bloody TERRIFYING! And I'm… well, you know I'm quite skilled myself, but I – I'm just… I'm not like Her…"

A smile tugged at her lips and she shook her head.

"Haha, right. Right, not like… not like Her. At all. I – Oh! Did you… did that mean you wouldn't… hurt me?" he squeaked, narrowing his shutters. At her slow nod, they widened again. "Oh! Hahaha, oh that's just… that's brilliant. Feel MUCH better, I do. …Not that I was really worried. But WOW, if you could take Her out, I don't want to even BEGIN to think of the things you could do to little old Wheatley… I'm… not that I'm fragile or anything. No, far from it! Built to last, me! Why, look at how well I'm doing after She crushed me! Right as rain!" He waggled his handles.

The brokenness was ebbing out of his voice, but it still lurked deep beneath the surface. The woman cupped his dented frame in her hands and lifted him up to sit cradled between her legs. She leaned back a little, resting on one hand while the other one teased back and forth at the top of his optic ring. Serious gray eyes looked straight into the wide blue optic.

"Ohhh…" he sighed, rolling his optic after a moment. "You know, this… this isn't so bad, just you and me in here. Heaps better than it was to be running all over alone, I'll tell you that."

She nodded, a smile twitching at the corner of her mouth.

"I could… I could get used to this, you know. Being around you. It's – You're really growing on me, I have to say. Wasn't sure at first. You looked a bit… well. Oh, no, you looked fine. Just fine. Lovely, really. There, I said it, you look lovely. But the more we work together, the more I think, all right, we make a pretty good team! And… and I just KNOW we're going to get out of here. Together, right?"

She gently clasped his upper handle, cupping the side of his sphere with the other hand, and nodded solemnly.

"Right." Hope and wonder had driven the broken tone completely out. "Together. You and me. Against the world. Against… well, against Her. But… but you killed her on your OWN last time! I still… still can't get over that! And, and NOW, you've got me on your side, and I know this place, and I can hack ANYTHING, just you wait and see! And we're going to get out of this place! And…" He paused suddenly, then looked up shyly. "…Do you know… I've never been outside…? Of course I've read about it. Plenty. And I used to hear about it sometimes. But I've never actually… been there. What's it like?"

The woman hesitated. Then she spread her arms as wide as they would go and waved up and down.

"It's… big? Big, yes! And exciting, I imagine! Go on!"

She nodded and paused. There was so much out there, hazy in her memory. She wasn't sure what to tell him, and she had no idea how.

"Are there… are there lots of other people out there?"

Another nod. She was sure of that. …Or at least there HAD been.

"Oh, brilliant! I knew there would be! That's great, so we'll have lots of friends!"

They both stared at each other for a moment.

"Ah… even though the world's… covered in humans… I know that'll be great for you. And for me, don't get me wrong! I… I just love humans. All of them. But… that doesn't mean you'll leave me in a corner and just… go off and do… human things all the time, will you…?"

His voice trembled, and her eyes turned steely. She picked him up to bring him close to her frowning face, and shook her head slowly, never taking her eyes off him.

"N-no? You're sure? I mean, it's fine… I totally understand, you'd want to… you'd rather be with your own kind. Perfectly natural response, really. Just… just don't forget little old Wheatley… I'll… I'll always be there, waiting, just wishing you'd pick me up again…" His voice trailed off.

Suddenly she was hugging him tightly, squeezing his damaged frame to her chest, shaking her head and pressing it to the top of the sphere.

"Ah! What's that you're… You're not trying to… N-no, definitely not trying to… crush me…"

She set him back on her legs and ran both hands around his optic rim, meeting at the bottom and then at the top, up and down.

"Oh. Was that… that was… something else, wasn't it? Not crushing at all. No, it wasn't. No. Hm. What… I don't really understand…"

Once more she lifted him up to her face. For a long moment she just stared at him. Then she leaned forward and pressed her lips to the left side of his optic rim. He made a sound like a sharp inhalation.

"Oh! That's… That was just tremendous… What do you call that? I'd really like… I'd like to know. I wonder… if I could do something like that." He flexed his handles, then his shutters. "Don't think I'm really equipped for it, to be honest. Don't have those nice soft lips you've got. Er… I wish I did, though. Because… if I did… I'd like to do that to you…"

She smiled and kissed the top of his optic rim, right where it was dented, a little longer this time.

"Ooh! That…" His optic widened in surprise. "…Do you know, that's been hurting me since She woke up and crushed me… and now… suddenly it feels better! A bit better. Did you do that?"

Her smile deepened.

"Could… do you think you could try it… on a few other spots? Probably won't do much good on the rest of me, but… Could you just… try?" His voice turned high and hopeful at the end. She gently turned him to a deep scratch on his side, and gently pressed her lips to it.

"Ah! I… I think I felt that, actually! It's… Oh, it's like it's going away! I can't see, did… is it still there? Did you fix me…?"

A soft breath of a laugh bubbled up, and she kissed another spot. She worked her way all over him, only half-listening to his excited chatter, saving the worst bit for last. The metal had popped out of its seam, exposing a bit of the AI's inner workings to the air. It was right next to his optic rim, so he felt it more sharply than the others. The woman smoothed it down, to no avail.

He twitched at her touch, and shivered. "That's… that's a bad one, I can tell. It is, isn't it? You can tell me, I can handle it. It's awful. Feels like I'm ripping apart right there. Like I could just… spill out. Is there a hole? I know there is, I can… I can feel the air on my circuits. Terrible feeling, that is, let me tell you. I don't like it at all." He stared up at her frown. "…It's too much, isn't it?" he asked quietly. "Can't… can't use your magic to fix that one, can you? It's too big. I can tell. See it in your eyes. Not to mention, I can feel it. Th-that's okay. Fine. Not a problem. I mean, what you did already was tremendous, I don't know how – Can all humans do that? Is it a human thing? Because… well, when I was first switched on, I got knocked around a bit. Nothing like this, you understand, but still not comfortable. And… and no one did a thing. No one even… even offered…"

She kissed his top handle, letting her lips close over it, and his nervous twitching relaxed.

"Or is it just you?" he asked softly. "Just… just wonderful, amazing, tremendous YOU? Is that it? Are you the only one whose mouth can fix machines?"

She breathed out a silent laugh again, eyes closing in mirth, and shook her head. Propping him on her knee, she pointed to herself, then to him, then again she clasped a hand over his top handle and cupped his sphere in the other hand. She stayed like that for a moment, then waved her finger back and forth between them.

"…Us? You and me? Together? Just… Oh, just… just me? And you?" His optic whirled slowly. "…Oh… That's… that's brilliant," he breathed. "You and me. Us."

She smiled, then brought him close to her, tipping him down a bit to see the tear in the metal. Being as gentle as she could, she kissed the bent side of it. She kissed all the way up each edge, and along the side, and slowly down on the optic rim. At first he hissed and jerked, but gradually he calmed down. When she paused, he let out a tired little whimper. She kissed the tear again in the middle, then down on his optic rim again.

"Oh…" he sighed. "That's… You know… I know it's still there. Still hurts, don't get me wrong. Knew it would, like I said. But… but it DOES feel a lot better. Um. Can I… I know you don't like to take long breaks, but I wonder… can we just… stay here like this… just a little longer? Just a few more minutes. Then we can be on our way. I'd just feel a lot better if… And YOU need as much rest as you can get, of course, running through all those tests and such! So if it's all right with you…"

She nodded. They were safe for the moment, and it WOULD be good to rest a little longer. Testing could wait. Wrapping an arm around him, she slowly lay back onto the floor and drew him close beside her so that her forehead and nose rested against his optic rim.

"That's - ! Oh, that's nice! I like that, too. You're just terrific, you know that? I'm… I'm really glad you're here. So you just rest, and I… I'll keep watch. Make sure everything's all right. I can do that."

She didn't sleep, but she closed her eyes and kept her face against him. His internal humming and whirring calmed her troubled mind, and she fell into a kind of trance.

"After all," he said softly after a moment, nuzzling into her face, "…Why do we have to leave right now?"

It was a line that would haunt her every waking moment in the days to come, but right now it made her lean in closer.


End file.
